Mobile Games Lack Depth?

"It is no secret that tower defense games dominate both the Android and Apple app stores. A whole lot of these games are also free which automatically gives them a head start. The problem with this genre is that it is prone to lacking depth. "

They'll come along eventually. Square has been putting out various rpg's onto phones for a while now. They don't end up on the top sellers list but thats probably because they cost around thirty times more than most things on the app store. As they should since their thirty or more times the game.

At some point somebody will manage to hit something more in the middle. Bite sized phone appropriate game experiences that still manage to have depth and complexity and story. They just aren't there yet. Regular platforming games are too cumbersome to play on phones, rpg's are in a similar way. Regardless something will work out. Some dev will figure out what will work best on those systems and then everything will just click.

Are they really that limited though? Touch the screen and you've indicated a spot on the screen with complete precision. Swipe, pinch, rotate your device for other effects. Throw a thumbstick in a corner or use buttons on the screen for other options. Tap and hold, double tap, triple tap, etc. If anything it offers far more options to gamers and developers than the traditional up/down/left/right and two button combo that the majority of games for the past 30 years have relied on.

Is that such a limited method of interacting with a game? As a mobile developer, I certainly don't see controls as an issue, and clearly others don't either as the game's industry on mobile is worth billions.

They do lack in depth and the only time I've had problems with controls is on the shooter games. Infinity blade 1 and 2 were great and I've bought two of the square enix produced games and they were also great. But if you want depth in a mobile game, you'll be paying $18 for the game which a lot of people don't bother with because they prefer the $1 games for a quick fix.